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‘Even if it did happen such incidents are commonplace on the training fields of the land, a storm in a teacup quickly sorted and set aside by practical managers.’

‘I do not propose to comment on the article as the sooner this storm in a teacup is forgotten the better.’

‘All this furore about same-sex marriages seems a storm in a teacup to me.’

‘In face of such gloating by the political right, several newspapers have insisted that the whole affair is a storm in a teacup.’

‘It seems a bit of a storm in a teacup to an outsider but maybe within his own professional group it was important to him.’

‘The row makes a storm in a teacup look gargantuan and says much about national pride, international rivalry, the need to justify hugely-expensive research establishments and even, perhaps, the egos of the experimenters.’

‘On the other hand, some of the ‘stories’ that have caused a great deal of excitement are no more than a storm in a teacup.’

‘The other European powers made great play of belittling US fears and giving the appearance that this was a storm in a teacup.’

1.1Have great and rapid success in a particular place or with a particular group of people.

‘his first collection took the fashion world by storm’

‘It was a vast book of a sprawling nation, and it took the world by storm.’

‘They took the world by storm, and you just could not believe you were so near to them when they were running on to the stage.’

‘And, just as sushi has been welcomed into the belly of the West (the recipe for the popular California Roll was invented in the States), Japan has recently opened its arms to a new fusion trend taking the country by storm.’

‘In 1937, they took the racetrack by storm, winning everywhere and lifting a quickly obsessed nation out of its doldrums.’

‘Fifty years ago, rock 'n' roll took the music world by storm.’

‘In theatrical terms, it took the world by storm.’

‘Just as Gregorian chants took the charts by storm in the 1990s, the producer of a new CD of Gaelic psalm singing is hoping to touch the public's heart.’

‘With his strong voice, he impressed the jurors, took the audience by storm and grabbed the title.’

‘Today she is taking the music business by storm.’

‘In the early nineties a small band of flannelette wearing buddies from Seattle took the world by storm.’

— up a storm

Perform the specified action with great enthusiasm and energy.

‘the band could really play up a storm’

‘The whole time, I was sweating up a storm, thinking that he'd still frisk me and find the stash in my jeans pocket.’

‘This is a very chatty track with all participants yammering up a storm.’

‘Marshall didn't speak a word of Spanish before he arrived in Cuba; now he's talking up a storm.’

‘Mitch and I are travelling a lot now and we are both writing up a storm.’

‘I'm cooking up a storm - but besides preparing all the food, I need to eat something, too.’

‘Anyways, he saw how distressed I was and came over to comfort me because I was crying up a storm.’

‘The condition, known to consume women in the late stages of pregnancy, compels heavily pregnant women to cook and clean up a storm.’

‘I went to my friends who were sitting at our table chatting up a storm.’

‘A couple at the table behind us was smoking up a storm and it kept drifting over me.’

‘Susan, despite her initial reservations, danced up a storm.’

Origin

Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch storm and German Sturm, probably also to the verb stir. The verb dates from late Middle English in storm (sense 3 of the verb).